Highlights from the Proposed Vending Rule - document

Here is the information on the document from which I am pulling out a few interesting points:

Food Labeling:

Calorie Labeling of Articles of Food in Vending Machines NPRM

Preliminary Regulatory Impact Analysis 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Food and Drug Administration

Docket No. FDA-2011-F 0171

Office of Regulations Policy and Social Sciences

Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition

March 2011 

And my little points of interest are:

• There is one vending machine for every 40 people in the USA
• 10% of the items in the machines do not have nutrient data available and would require laboratory analysis to be in compliance with the law
• Foods eaten away from home are often associated with over consumption of calories because of their extreme caloric density.  Vending machine "meals/snacks" make up 5% of away from home eating.
• "present-bias" is a term that refers to thinking about what we want right here and now and not the consequence it may have on our weight or health in the future.  Having caloric information "in our faces" at the time of purchase may have an impact on this phenomena.
• 79 Million adults are considered to be obese (USA)
• A lot of convoluted math was thrown out in this document and by convoluted I mean complicated and over my head.  The authors of the report suggest that informing consumers about the calories in foods may lead to a reduction in caloric intake.  In order for this policy to be beneficial, we should decrease caloric intake from vending foods or drinks by 140 cals per day*.  If this is done, they extrapolate (with caution), we could see a decrease in the obesity rate in adults by 4.3%.  This regards only this intervention, not other strategies. 
• Vending machine food is associated with higher calories, thus weight gain and obesity.  Obesity is itself related to adverse health outcomes, disability, decreased productivity and abbreviated life expectancy.  However, people tend to live just as long when they are obese, just not terribly well it seems.
• I am really concerned about the sentence below regarding the nutrient analysis and disclosure piece - as stated on page 16 (the underlined part esp.).  In other words, the proof of accuracy should not be a choice but a given.

Although the proposed rule does not mandate recordkeeping, vending machine operators will likely need to be able to ensure that calorie disclosures for covered vending machine foods are accurate and consistent without needing to re-analyze these foods. 

• The exception to the rule (p. 18)! Here is the kicker. It says in this document that if total calorie content is included on the label and that label is viewable through the case (i.e a glass case) then the machine would be exempt from the new rules.  If we could walk up and see that the fritos have 300 calories for the bag we are thinking of buying - before we buy it, then the machine is already doing what the law intends.  Thus, I have two things to say.  One - years ago I said, turn the packages around - and I still think that is a fine start.  Two, - front of pack labels :)

The document is available on the Internet here.
**correction - that should read 140 calories a week.